One Piece - To the Strong
by Pen-Magician
Summary: After the Straw Hats manage to escape Big Mom's territory, they recover as they make their way to Wano. However, unknown to them, a new threat is blooming. Old warriors from the past begin to arise, and soon they are taken to an unknown island with one, simple rule; Only one may leave, and to them goes the world. This fic is based on Tekking101's "Design a Devil Fruit" Contest.


**Chapter 1: Trouble in the New World  
-Boa Hancock-**

She struck out with her foot, and the marine went spiraling across the floor. He only stopped when he hit the pillar across from them, cracking the stone with the impact. Boa Hancock only stared with cold eyes.

"If you dare speak to me with that tone again, I shall turn that foolish grin of yours to stone." It was late in the day; the sunset was approaching fast on Amazon Lily. After hours and hours of appeals and meetings with the other Kuja, Hancock's mood had slowly turned from indifferent to dour. The arrival of the marines did nothing to raise her spirits.

"Empress Hancock, please reconsider!" the small shriveled woman spoke in a shaky voice, holding out the crumpled letter in trembling hands. "After the incident in Totland, the World Government made it very clear that the warlords-"

"Do not think I have misheard you, marine." Salome hissed at her side, making the small marine shudder even more. Hancock wished she could do the same. "You've repeated yourself enough to bleed my ears, so allow me to reiterate as well. My answer is no!"

"Sister, perhaps you should-" Hancock shook her head, cutting Sandersonia's words in half before she could finish. She plucked the envelop out of the frail marine's hand, and with a flick of her wrist turned it into stone. She dropped it to the floor, letting it shatter across the marble.

"Be out into the calm belt by morning or I'll feed you to the snakes." She turned on her heels, greatcoat billowing behind her. She was sore and tired and angry, but most of all she was worried. _Where are you now, Luffy? Are you safe?_

__ As she climbed the stairs toward her bedchamber, she thought back to the morning. The newspaper had arrived as dawn was breaking, and Hancock had been the first to read it. By now most knew what the Strawhat Pirates had done in the yonko Charlotte Linlin's territory, but when she read it in the morning she felt like the only one in the world glancing at the words. It had been on her mind all day, through every conversation and every order. She couldn't stop fretting, and she didn't eat a single bite of food. She stopped her ascent suddenly, leaning against the cold stone wall. Her head was swimming as nausea assaulted her body. It lasted only a moment, however, as she shook her head violently from side to side. _No_, she thought to herself. _I will not show weakness. I am the queen of snakes. I must be strong._ After what seemed like hours, she had reached the door to her bedchamber.  
"Go find something to eat." she told her snake. It looked at her with its head tilted, before retreating down the flight of stairs and out of her vision. A Kuja is only as strong as their serpentine companion, she knew, and hoped Salome would find ample prey. She sighed to herself and pushed open the large oaken doors before her. The room was immediately stifling, she noticed. She strolled over to the window and pushed it open, letting the breeze of her island fill the air around her. She let her greatcoat fall to the floor around her ankles, breathing in the fresh air. Her mind cleared as she looked out into the jungle of Amazon Lily. The sky was clear, but she knew a storm was coming. Feeling slightly better, she stepped over her coat and sat on her large bed, scooping up the crumpled edition of the _World Economic Times _with her fingers. She could only stare at the black and white photograph of the man she had fallen in love with, the huge sprawling numbers reading "1.5 Billion Berries" just above it.

"Feeling nostalgic, miss Boa?" her eyes snapped to the window faster than a Kuja's arrow, her muscles turned to iron. The doors creaked in the wind, silently and alone. She quickly got to her feet, tossing aside the paper. Peering at the open window, she approached carefully. When she reached it, she looked out and scanned the island. Nothing. Slightly annoyed, she shut the window with a loud wooden _kachunk, _and turned towards the door.

"Shutting me out now, eh? I guess I shouldn't blame yo-" the next few seconds were filled with noises that Hancock was rather familiar with. First, the high-pitched hollow whine of a limb being coated with armament haki. The second, the shattering of wood and stone as she blew a 5-meter hole in the side of her bedchamber. The third, the whip and wail of wind created through Soru, one of the six powers. _I am under attack._

"Woah! Did I catch you at a bad time, Pirate Empress?" the dry voice of a man wheezed out behind her. Eyes hard as stone, she slowly lowered her right leg, letting the haki slowly dissipate from her skin. Gazing at her large new window for only a moment, she turned to face her assailant. Standing at the opposite side of the room was someone she did not expect; The man looked like death. Pale and thin and tall, he leaned against the door. The thick, long robes he wore seemed like they would swallow him whole at any moment. Through a nest of straw-colored hair, she could see one pale blue eye and a trail of blood, leaking from his nose. Yet, despite his appearance, that eye was filled with more life than she had ever seen in anyone before. Even more than her. Even more than Luffy. It scared her.

"You must excuse me, miss Boa. Exerting myself like this takes quite a bit out of me, so if you could just…" he trailed off when he found her expression. She took one step forward, and coated both legs with the strongest armament she could muster.

"Explain yourself at once, fool! Give me an answer worth my time and you will die quick. Give me a poor one…" she demonstrated the consequence by tapping her toes on the floor, cracking the stone as easily as dried sand. The man looked her in the eye for a few moments, before raising his hands in defeat. Smiling, he slid his back down the door until he was seated on the stone floor.

"I never meant to alarm you, Empress,' he began, wiping the blood from under his nose with the back of a shaky hand. "Although, to be fair, you gave me quite the scare myself. I'm lucky I can still manage Soru, or else I might have-"

"Speak." She said harshly, pinning him to the wall with a foot on his chest. The force was small, but the man grunted in clear pain as the sole of her shoe made contact with him. _His haki must be weak, _she thought, feeling relieved. _He does not stand a chance against me. _"One more out of place word, and I will kill you."

The man smiled, and when he opened his mouth both blood and speech leaked out between his lips. "I'm afraid you cannot kill the past, Hancock. When you try, you lose before you begin."

Pain. The next thing she knew, it was all she felt. A cry of agony erupted from her mouth like a twisting spasm, her back arching from the force of the unknown attack. Her breath gone, she tried to push her toes forward, to kill the man she had at her mercy, but she only lost her footing and fell backwards. Through the warm blood and unbearable sting of her wound, she felt the cold, hard being behind her as she collapsed against it. She could barely comprehend the tree trunk like arms wrap around her waist as the world seeped away from her.

Before she fell away completely, the sickly man entered her gaze once more. However, this time he was different. His skin was a blood red, his eyes black and gold. His hair had gone a pitch black, seemingly writhing on his scalp. Bursting out of his forehead were two horns, long and sickle like. Their tips were a scorching hot blue, radiating light that seemed to kill everything else in the room. In his left, clawed hand, he gingerly held a flaming scroll. She watched it with a sense of strange serenity as her vision closed in around it. _Luffy._

"Would you like to make a wish, Empress Hancock?" and then, she was gone.


End file.
